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SLOPER ON MAH-JONGG

By Tom Sloper
December 1, 2013
No. 586

American Mah Jongg (2013 NMJL card). Which of the following are legal standalone exposures? Check all that apply.

1. Illegal. For one thing, only white dragon ("soap") may ever be used as zero. For the second thing... well, hold that thought.

2. The 2013 card has no exposable dragon pungs. The two hands with dragon pungs are both Closed. Illegal.

3. Illegal. If someone discards a joker, you can never call it to make an exposure. You can have a concealed grouping of jokers (and you can expose it with mah-jongg), but you can't call a discarded joker, ever.

4. There are no dragon quints in the 2013 card. Illegal.

5. Flower quint? Not in the 2013 card. Illegal.

6. A joker can never be used to represent a single tile (see the back of the card -- look for the word "never" in bold print and in all caps and underlined! Illegal. For the second thing... well, hold that thought.

7. 2013 #3, right? Pairs and singles can never be exposed prior to declaring mah-jongg! Illegal for sure.

8. Think 99887 is a quint? Wrong. It's two pairs and a single. As mentioned in #7 above, pairs and singles can never be exposed prior to declaring mah-jongg.

9. Jokers can never ("never," see the card) be used to represent a single tile. For the second thing... well, hold that thought.

10. You won't find any sextets (or septettes, for that matter) in the 2013 card. Illegal.

11. 2013 is not a kong; it's four singles, thus it can not be exposed prior to declaring mah-jongg. Illegal.

12. There are no flower pungs on this card. Illegal.

13. If you've read the answers to #s 7, 8, and 11 above, you know why this one is illegal. NEWS is four singles, and singles can absolutely never be exposed prior to declaring mah-jongg.

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Question or comment about this column? I often, um... intentionally... "miss" something; maybe you'll be the first one to spot it! Email and the discussion will be posted on the Mah-Jongg Q&A Bulletin Board.

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Need rules for American mah-jongg? Tom Sloper's book, The Red Dragon & The West Wind, is the most comprehensive book in existence about the American game. AND see FAQ 19 for fine points of the American rules (and commonly misunderstood rules). AND get the official rulebook from the NMJL (see FAQ 3). Linda Fisher's website is the only website that describes American rules: http://sites.google.com/site/mahjrules/.